Exercises: Social responsibility and inclusion

Define in your own words what corporate social responsibility (CSR) is and give two examples of specific actions that a local bakery could carry out.

CSR actions can be internal (affecting the business itself and its workforce) or external (affecting the community or the environment). Classify these four: recycling waste from the bakery, ensuring equal pay between men and women, sponsoring a local NGO, and offering flexible hours for work-life balance.

The diagram shows the three dimensions of corporate social responsibility, known as the "triple bottom line". State which dimension is missing, marked with "?", and give two examples of business actions belonging to it.

Explain what a company's stakeholders are and identify at least five in a language academy, stating what each one expects from it.

Explain what the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are and choose two that a school catering company could support, proposing a specific action for each one.

A company complies with all the regulations, but pays its interns as little as possible and changes supplier every year, always looking for the cheapest, even though it knows about the poor working conditions of some of them. Explain why "complying with the law" is not the same as acting with social responsibility.

Propose three simple environmental actions for an office of twenty people (related to energy, paper and mobility) and explain which dimension of social responsibility each one works on.

A bank donates $10.000\ \text{€}$ to an NGO once a year, while a cooperative has sustainability integrated into all its daily decisions. Explain the difference between a one-off social action (philanthropy) and CSR integrated into the company's strategy.

A cosmetics company decides to replace its plastic packaging with recyclable alternatives that cost 30% more. Analyse the decision from a CSR perspective: which stakeholders benefit, what cost the company assumes, and what long-term benefits it could obtain.

Female entrepreneurship has grown significantly in Spain, but it continues to face specific barriers. Describe three of these barriers (access to finance, work-life balance, lower representation in certain sectors) and propose a specific measure to reduce each one.

A logistics company reserves positions for people with disabilities and adapts their workstations. Explain what benefits the company can gain beyond complying with regulations, and what inclusion contributes to the working environment and to society.

A supermarket starts donating to a food bank every day the products close to their expiry date that it used to throw away. Analyse the measure from a CSR perspective: which stakeholders benefit, what costs it involves and what benefits the company can obtain (image, savings in waste management).

A textile SME wants to align its activity with the SDGs. Choose three SDGs relevant to it (for example, responsible production and consumption, decent work, climate action) and define for each one a specific action and an indicator that allows checking whether it improves.

In a company with 200 employees, $60\ \%$ of the workforce are women, but only 1 of the 10 management positions is held by a woman. a) Calculate what percentage of the managers are women and comment on the contrast with the workforce. b) Explain what the "glass ceiling" is and propose two measures to reduce it.

A factory discharges waste into a river and the town council is considering fining it. Identify the stakeholders affected, explain what each one would demand (residents, workers, customers, shareholders, the environment itself) and propose a way out that tries to balance them.

Explain what a work integration social enterprise is and analyse the case of a sewing workshop that employs eight people at risk of exclusion and finances itself by manufacturing uniforms: what distinguishes it from a conventional business and from an NGO, and where its income can come from.

A fast-fashion multinational launches a global campaign claiming that its new collection is "100% sustainable and circular". However, an independent audit reveals that only 4,5% of its fabrics are recycled, the clothing is not biodegradable, and 70% of production takes place in plants with high polluting emissions. a) Analyse this case from the perspective of greenwashing and predict the economic impact this scandal could have on the brand's intangible value, consumer loyalty, and the cost of financing in capital markets (ESG criteria). b) Design three quantitative, verifiable indicators linked to the value chain that allow stakeholders to verify whether an environmental policy is a genuine strategic commitment and not just an advertising stunt.

"The only corporate social responsibility of business is to maximize its profits for shareholders while respecting the existing legal framework." Starting from this famous statement by Milton Friedman, challenge its validity in the current economic and business context. Reasonably demonstrate how voluntary investment in CSR (beyond legal obligations) can generate a sustainable competitive advantage and improve long-term profitability, analysing two economic mechanisms: human capital productivity and retention, and the mitigation of regulatory and market risks.

Design a mini-CSR plan for a specific SME of your choice (for example, a printing company with 15 workers): set an objective for each dimension (economic, social, and environmental) and a measurable action for each objective, indicating how you would verify that it is fulfilled.

The management of a 50-room rural hotel is considering investing $120.000\ \text{€}$ in a photovoltaic solar energy installation. The project generates direct energy savings of $18.000\ \text{€}$ per year over a useful life of 8 years (with no residual value). Additionally, the hotel anticipates that obtaining an official environmental certification will allow it to attract an eco-tourism segment that will provide additional net revenue of $6.000\ \text{€}$ per year. a) If the discount rate or cost of capital is $5\ \%$, calculate the Net Present Value (NPV) of the project considering only the direct energy savings and compare it with the NPV that includes the revenue from environmental reputation. Determine whether the project is viable in both scenarios. b) Justify how this investment contributes to the internalisation of environmental externalities and argue how it would improve the hotel's competitive position in the face of a future carbon tax.

The owner of a neighbourhood grocery shop states: "CSR is a superfluous cost that only large multinationals with marketing departments can afford." a) Challenge this statement by demonstrating how a micro-enterprise or SME can implement CSR practices without compromising its economic viability or driving up its costs, proposing three specific measures (in purchasing, waste management, and labour relations). b) Justify why the SME's proximity to its local stakeholders (neighbours, small local producers, local employees) can turn CSR into a stronger and more credible competitive advantage than that of a large retail chain.

An IT consulting firm with 30 employees implements a pilot program for a 32-hour workweek (4 days a week) while maintaining $100\ \%$ of wages. a) Analyze the impact of the measure on labor productivity and unit labor cost: calculate and explain what percentage increase in productivity per hour worked the staff must achieve for the company to maintain its weekly production level without incurring losses. b) Assess the potential conflict of interest among three key stakeholders (workers, clients demanding continuous support, and shareholders) and design two organizational and work management measures to successfully resolve it.

A well-known Spanish sportswear brand outsources all its garment manufacturing to workshops in Southeast Asia. An international investigation reveals that one of the subcontracted workshops uses child labor and 14-hour workdays under unsafe conditions. The company issues a statement claiming: «We are not the owners of those factories nor the direct employers, so we have no legal or labor responsibility for what happened». a) Refute management's stance relying on the concept of value chain responsibility and evaluate the economic and reputational consequences of shifting negative externalities onto suppliers to cut costs. b) Design an ethical management and traceability plan for its procurement that includes preventive measures, supervision, and supplier incentives, analyzing two operational difficulties or costs that the company will have to bear when implementing it.

A logistics company with a staff of 250 employees does not have any workers with disabilities. Management argues that warehouse work is «too physical» and plans to resort to the alternative measures provided for by Spanish legislation (Royal Legislative Decree 1/2013). a) Determine the number of reserved positions according to the legal quota of $2\ \%$ and analyze the requirements that the law imposes on the company before it can resort to such alternative measures (declaration of exceptionality). b) Assuming the company justifies the exceptionality and decides to comply with the law through donations to social entities or by hiring a Special Employment Center (CEE), critically assess from the perspective of CSR and the social balance sheet whether formal compliance with the law through alternative measures satisfies the principle of social inclusion or whether it represents a way to avoid workplace adaptation.